Girls Names Beginning With H

Harper

English

"harp player"

You might think of Harper as the hottest name of the last decade, jumping from obscurity to the Top 10, where it remained until last year. Victoria and David Beckham's choice of Harper for their…

Hazel

English

"the hazelnut tree"

Hazel has a pleasantly hazy, brownish-green-eyed, old-fashioned image that more and more parents are choosing to share. Former Old Lady name Hazel reentered the popularity lists in 1998 and now is…

Haven

Word name, English

"a place of safety"

Haven is a recently invented safe-harbor name that appeals to an increasing number of parents who don't want to voyage quite as far as Heaven. Haven Kimmel is the author of the bestselling memoir A…

Hattie

English, diminutive of Harriet

"estate ruler"

In the USA, Hattie is one of those nicknames that is now more popular than its parent name, Harriet. In England, however, Harriet is still by far more popular than Hattie, while in Australia, Harriet…

Heidi

Diminutive of Adelheid; German

"noble, nobility"

Heidi became known — and popular — via the 1880 eponymous children's classic by Swiss writer Johanna Spyri and, despite decades of American Heidis of all sizes, shapes, and personalities, the name…

Hope

Virtue name

Can a name as virtuous as Hope be cool and trendy? Strangely enough -- yes. But though this optimistic Puritan favorite is experiencing substantial popularity, Hope is too pure and elegant to be…

Helena

Latinate form of Helen, Greek

"torch; shining light"

Helena is one of those classic names that just misses making the US Top 1000 girl names for its entire history, falling off for a single year in 1992. Since then it's been drifting lazily up the…

Helen

Greek

"torch; shining light"

Helen is a name that has connoted beauty since ancient times – Helen of Troy was the the mythological "face that launched a thousand ships," over whom the ten-year Trojan War was fought. The name…

Haisley

Modern invented name

Combine two parts Paisley with one part Hazel and one part Harley, add a dash of Hayes, and voila: Haisley.

Heaven

Word name

Among the children named Heaven are the daughters of TV personality Brooke Burke and rap singer Lil' Mo, who also has a daughter named God'iss Love. Some parents have taken to using Nevaeh…

Hana

Hebrew, Hawaiian, Maori, Japanese

"grace, work, glow, flower"

Many things to many peoples: a flower name, also spelled Hanae, to the Japanese; a Czech and Polish short form of Johana; and an alternate form of the biblical name Hannah in the US. It also means…

Heidy

Heidy is a feminine name primarily functioning as a variant spelling of Heidi. The original name derives from the German name Adelheid, meaning 'nobility' or 'of noble birth,' with Heidi emerging as…

Honora

Latin

"woman of honor"

Honora and Honoria are two ways of softening the severity of Honor, while retaining its righteous meaning. They were predominant until the Reformation, when the Puritans adopted the abstract virtue…

Helaine

French variation of Helen

Like twins Helene and Elaine, a relic of the 1930s to 40s French Renaissance of names.

Heavenly

Word name

Heavenly, the word that's become a name, has been flirting with the bottom of the Top 1000 for a handful of years now. Heaven and cousins like Nevaeh have been well-used so adding the popular -ly…

Halie

Greek mythology name

"dweller in the sea"

Halie is the name of several figures in Greek mythology, most of them sea nymphs. The most prominent mythological Halie was the mother of Rhodos, who gave her name to the island Rhodes, and six sons…

Helene

French variation of Helen

"bright, shining one"

Whether it's pronounced with an "een" or an "aine" or an "enn" sound at the end, Helene doesn't feel as current the more forthright Helen or the airier Helena. Helene reached a high of Number 228 in…

Henrietta

Feminine variation of Henry, German

"estate ruler"

Despite a return to such feminizations of male names as Josephine, Clementine, and Theodora, starchy Henrietta has not made it into that group. Still, if you look hard enough, you'll see that…

Harriette

Harriette is a feminine name of Germanic origin, a diminutive form of Harriet, which itself is a feminine version of Harry or Henry. The name means 'home ruler' or 'ruler of the household,'…

Harriet

English variation of French Henriette

"estate ruler"

Harriet has long been considered a stylish, upscale name in England, but it's still waiting to be revived in the US—though some parents seeking a solid, serious semi-classic are beginning to consider…